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By: - 19th July 2015 at 09:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I doubt there is much which hasn't been covered.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 09:47 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Really? Let's see!
By: - 19th July 2015 at 10:04 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
use of aircraft for whaling/ fish spotting...eg Walrus and earlier? well perhaps not enough for abook..article perhaps?
By: - 19th July 2015 at 10:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
French efforts in the Berlin Airlift?
By: - 19th July 2015 at 11:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Cold War shootdowns, Bay of Pigs, CIA aviation, combat drones (from WW1 on [sic]), in-depth monographs of most WWI types (but let's start with the RE.8), Chinese aviation, target-towing. A good book on the B-52 might be nice (that one is an obvious no-brainer for someone).
Or how about defecting aircraft (and not just East to West either...)?
And millions more which others with more imagination can think of, no doubt.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 11:39 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
While I never purchased Lindsay Peacocks book on the B-52 about 20 odd? years ago
I would say that would take some beating, although we did a reasonable job for the B-52H in World Air Power Journal
Not being biased because I know him or anything....
Tim
By: - 19th July 2015 at 12:37 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
An informed study of the whys and wherefores of design philosophy as it changed over the years, especially between 1930 and 1950. Everyone knows the world went from 'rag and stick' to supersonic jet aircraft.. but the story of the engineers and physicists who did this is largely obscure and lost in generalisation and assumption. Why did the Spitfire REALLY have a higher limiting Mach than any other propeller aircraft, regardless of wing thickness? Why was there a sudden sprouting of root fillets in the late thirties? Why did the p-38 shake uncontrollably over 500mph? Who worked it out, and how was it fixed? The answers are surprising (not fairings or under-wing flaps), largely unpublished, and I am sure there is a lot more out there. It was a time of immense change and technical noses to the grindstone, but it seems to have gone down in history as just somehow having happened without effort or immense scientific achievement.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 12:51 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I would like to see a book on UK involvement in both Gulf Wars in the same format of 'Falklands-the air war'. The 'phoney war' has also always fascinated me and there seems to be little on that as far as I have seen. Trouble is books are just so expensive now so i rely on my local library's excellent aviation collection.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 12:56 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Oh, and the political story behind the withholding of all subsequent gallantry awards (for any reason) to any Bomber Command Captains who had flown to Dresden. I am working on that one ;-)
By: - 19th July 2015 at 14:14 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
A detailed look at 1930s airliner development would be welcome. It was a fascinating period, going from biplanes and heavily strutted fixed gear aircraft like the Boulton Paul P.71, D.H. 86, and H.P. 45 Hannibal class, while American carriers were still flying a mix of late 20s vintage Fords and wood-winged Fokkers and a series of single-engine types (Boeings, Northrups, wooden Lockheeds). Competitive pressure from the Boeing 247 gave birth to the DC-1-2-3 awhile Lockheed produced the state of the art (and less economical) 10-12-14-18 range. European airliners had by the mid to late 30s, caught up in design (if not in the long life and profit producing potential of the DCs) with Fait G.18s, Bloch 220s, and the D.H. Albatross and Flamingo (while continuing on with fabric biplanes the 89, 90) while Shorts continued to make flying boats (unaware as was Boeing, Martin and Consolidated in the US) that the civil flying boat market wouldn't last through the next decade. And as an aside, we had a series of aircraft o that were more or less a new series of bombers in civil guise: the S.M. 79 in Italy, the German Do 17 and He 111, French Amiot 340, and a fast transport, the Bristol 142 Britain First which was, effectively, the Blenheim prototype.
Certainly that's worth a book.
I've long expressed the opinion here that helicopters (I can hear many of you yawn already) haven't received the attention they deserve. I've waited for years for a Putnam-quality book on Sikorsky types (however the Putnam Westland book covers many of the types but omits a lot of the development stories since the basic designs were done in America).
Likewise General aviation aircraft. Yes, Pipers, Cessnas, Austers, Beagles and Robins (etc) aren't as "sexy' as tales of darring-do with Spitfires, but the fact remains if any of us want to put down our books and actually take to the skies ourselves, it will be in such aircraft.
Tim, I have Lindsay Peacock's B-47 book. (BTW: I haven't heard of him in awhile, is he still writing?) I tend to stay away from books on aircraft, like the B-52, still in service because any book will be soon obsolete. I did buy magazines like International Airpower Review and World Airpower Journal for updates on certain types.
Another book (or lengthy article) I'd like to see is swords into plowshares...how WWII aircraft builders sought to keep busy post war by building civil aircraft with types like the Republic Seebee (originally called the Thunderbolt amphibian, IIRC) or Grumman Hepcat/Kitten (a hepcat was in 1930s slang a "cool character") or Tadpole.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 15:16 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
The Far East is still grossly under-researched. The area is geographically far removed from where most researchers call home, and the climate and, in some cases, politics in places like India, Burma, Thailand, and Malaysia create ongoing problems, as I've experienced numerous times over the years. Records are thinner out there, as well.
For every 100 stories about Bomber Command in the magazines, there is one about the air war against the Japanese.
In particular, bombing operations against the Japanese are thinly researched/published.
Middle East air war topics are also under-researched, for similar reasons, but it seems in-depth coverage is even thinner for the Far East air war theme.
Honestly, there is less interest in these areas. The closer to home the RAF flew and fought, the more likely one will be able to visit and be moved by the experience of standing where history happened. A visit to Duxford or Tangmere, for example, can be intriguing, thrilling, and thought-provoking, while few will ever have the chance to visit long-abandoned RAF Amarda Road, in the middle of nowhere in India. See the then-and-now images: 8 June 1944 and 16 Feb 2014, nearly 70 years apart. (The fit of the old atop the new is not great; I didn't spend much time at it.)
Regards,
Matt
By: - 19th July 2015 at 15:39 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
1940 - 1941 air war in Greece and the Balkans against Regia Aeronautica. No. 30, 80, 84 & 112 Sqdn. Gladiator II's, No. 211 Sqdn. Blenheim I's, No. 70 Sqdn. Wellingtons, all lost aircraft to squadriglie operating the Fiat CR-42.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 16:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
I doubt there is much which hasn't been covered.
Ah well, that's a few years of research and writing wasted then.:rolleyes:
By: - 19th July 2015 at 16:21 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
An informed study of the whys and wherefores of design philosophy as it changed over the years, especially between 1930 and 1950.
That's one I would buy
By: - 19th July 2015 at 16:22 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
A detailed look at 1930s airliner development would be welcome.
I'd buy that one too
By: - 19th July 2015 at 16:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
While I never purchased Lindsay Peacocks book on the B-52 about 20 odd? years agoI would say that would take some beating, although we did a reasonable job for the B-52H in World Air Power Journal
Not being biased because I know him or anything....
Tim
The WAPJ is the best B-52 coverage I've seen! Expand it to cover all models, a short s/n history listing and I'd be happy!!!
By: - 19th July 2015 at 16:26 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
...and if it ran to 200+ pages and/or fully in-depth, I'd buy anyone's attempt at doing the HP.42/45.
By: - 19th July 2015 at 17:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Hi J Boyle
As far as I know Lindsay is still working.
Tim S
By: - 19th July 2015 at 18:05 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
What aviation topic is crying out for a serious historical examination in book form. What has been overlooked?
All those obscure subjects that fascinate certain of us but which are viewed by the publishers as not being commercial. That's the reality of life!
By: - 19th July 2015 at 18:24 Permalink - Edited 1st January 1970 at 01:00
Its largely a question of accepting the commercial realities of book production and tailoring your material to have 'an angle' or some kind of tag that they can use for marketing. Unless your chosen subject is really obscure - "the politics of pop-rivet production, 1931 - 33" - its not really too difficult. Not to forget, also, the magazine market, they are also more receptive to tightly-written articles than you may suppose. If you have a good story to tell, they will listen as they need submissions. Publishers will always moan about the tight market and the pressure exerted by Amazon etc. but the number of titles produced each year remains high, and quite a reasonable percentage are well-researched and not too mainstream.
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By: Wings43 - 19th July 2015 at 09:28
Here is something I wondered. There are countless books on the Battle if Britain and Bomber Command. What aviation topic is crying out for a serious historical examination in book form. What has been overlooked?